Mitchell Report is unpleasant reading

Tonight I'm beginning to digest Senator Mitchell's 400-page report on steroid use in baseball, and it's not going down too well.

Just outside my bedroom door is a cabinet full of Red Sox memorabilia I've collected over the years - I call it my Shrine. One of the displays is four baseballs I got in 1995, each highlighting a different Sox player - three of the four are named as using steroids. The report even has copies of the cancelled checks where they paid for the drugs. It's been building for a long time now, but this is a sad day for baseball. It's a sad day for me as I look at the things in my collection and wonder what they're worth - not in a financial sense but what they're worth to me. Tonight I can't remember all the times those guys made me happy - I only feel naive when I see all the warning signs in retrospect. In a way, though, each of the items represents not just the player, but also where and who I was when I acquired it - in that sense they're all still valuable. Sucks though.

You're not gonna believe this one...

Yep yep it's been a long long long time since we've posted. My beloved Red Sox won the World Series, the Patriots and Celtics are both undefeated (is this reality?), even the Bruins are playing strong. BC was number two, the goddamn New England Revolution are in the playoffs. Not only can it not get better, you have no right to even dream of this if you're a Boston sports fan.

And yet after a couple shots of voddie, the one man I really want to salute is Joe Torre. Yep, the Yankees manager, the dark lord of the sith and a real stand-up guy. Any real Sox fan respects Joe Torre and Derek Jeter, and rejoices at the resigning of A-Hole cos it means ten more years of no Yankee championships. We finally got the AL East title - the first time since Kevin Kennedy and the days of Valentin, Vaughn and Canseco. Jedi mind trick to George Mitchell: These are not the players you're looking for.

But they gave us a scare down the stretch - they overcame a seriously un-Yankee start to win the Wild Card, and you've got to salute the manager for that. A man who made the postseason in each of his twelve years as manager. Everyone whose favorite team is confined by three dimensions think about that for a moment: ten AL East titles, six pennants, and four World Championships. The Sox can only hope for that success in the coming years, and yet Furious George casts aside the anchor. Thankfully it appears they're too afraid to make the complete break, resigning 30-somethings instead of developing farm talent. Joba the Hutt is the antipapelbon and I can become a Dodger fan - Vin Scully makes it so easy. What it all means is vote for Torre as Manager of the Year, early and often. He's the only Yankee I've ever given money to.

Don't Panic!

I've said all year I'm gonna wait to worry till the Red Sox' lead in the AL East was five games.

eep...

Well the bottom line is we need the offense to kick in, and in general lately that's been happening. If you're going to be deficient somewhere, I'd rather it be hitting than pitching. After all, how many games can you win 10-6, 8-5, 16-8?

Enough, apparently, judging from the Yankees' last month. We all know the Yankers beat up on weak teams, but the problem lately (this millenium) has been their struggles against teams with winning records. So looking at this past month as they've trimmed the deficit from 12 games to 5, how many times did they play a .500 team? Hmm - not once. In the first 25 games after the All-Star break, not a one was against a winning team. That trend stops Friday, with series against Cleveland and Anaheim, and two series with Detroit before facing Boston at the end of the month. I posit this particular stretch will be more telling of their true toughness. My beloved Sox, on the other hand, have fully a quarter of their remaining games (12 of 49) with Tampa Bay, the worst team in baseball.

Our tendency to panic comes from something decades old and deep inside. Most of it was washed away in the blood of Curt Schilling, but it's all really only ever remission. Buck up, lil campers. The magic number is 45. This is not your father's Red Sox - it's your Papi's.

Yankee Hole

Oh my good... Oh my goodness gracious I can't believe it. Of all the most dramatic things... Roger Clemens was booed off the mound at Yankee Stadium. Roger Clemens gave up eight runs in an inning and two-thirds... Jorge Posada looks shocked, Andy Pettitte thought it might happen... And there you go, I guess now it's time to start wondering who'll take that fifth spot in the rotation... Oh the humanity...

Mmmmm - Delicious Sandwiches

Hello sandwich lovers of the world, and specifically New York City. Very interesting site... Looking at the close-up pictures of people eating is making my stomach churn - I'll assume it's because of hunger. By the way, the Yankees suck.

Speaking of those doddering decrepit deficients from the Bronx, here's a short film dug up by the Dirt Dogs depicting Roger Clemens in the year 2057. Now that's delicious...

NY Yankees 6, Boston Red Sox 7

Eat it, Bob Ryan. So the rivalry doesn't mean what it did when you had a shade of color to your hair? I'm so tired of old people saying the game isn't as good as the old days - ever since they raised ticket prices to a quarter. Right here, right now. There is no other place I'd want to be.

Thank you Mr. Kerry

As long as we're dogging on Warner Bros today, let's keep it going...

I've been criticized a lot in the past for my support of John Kerry. Fine by me... He became my senator in 1983 and consistently fights for causes I support, and one Karl Rove-led smear campaign doesn't change how I feel one bit.

I'm a life-long Red Sox fan who moved to North Carolina in the great Money Magazine Migration of 94 - for about five years nothing made me more homesick than not being able to see my team play except the occasional game against the Orioles, and then I'd have to listen to the inane ramblings of Jim Palmer. Then Time Warner Cable picked up the InDemand package MLB Extra Innings, allowing viewers all over the country, for a hefty fee, to see almost all the games played each night. It's great to know after a hard day's work you can come home and witness the continual unfolding of the artisan tapistry of a baseball season - even if you don't watch every night, to know you can is relaxing.

Now InDemand is working on an exclusive deal with DirectTV so Extra Innings won't be available to cable subscribers. This is disturbing, but what's surprising is how few people it will affect - only 400,000 people subscribed to the service last year, and about half that through cable. Not enough for Major League Baseball to be concerned, and each team will receive about $20 million for the deal.

In steps John Kerry. He voiced concern over the deal to the senate and the FCC, and this week will bring hearings on whether the deal can proceed legally. He probably won't win - when monopolies collide it's always the consumer that suffers. But at least he's once again fighting the good fight. Here's a politician battling something I have no control over, but that will affect my daily life. Isn't that exactly what a politician is supposed to do?